Yup. I love visiting friends and petting their cats but they don’t belong outside. They are house pets. If you want your cat to be able to enjoy the outdoors it should be on some sort of tether and supervised. I find it funny that there seems to be a stigma about letting dogs run, but for cats it’s “fine” for some reason.
I find it interesting to see here that the majority of people seem to be ignoring the fact that the cat shouldn’t have been out in the first place and are getting all up in arms at the man for shooting it. It was obviously a huge mistake and he shouldn’t have done it, but if the owner had been doing their job of keeping their goddamn pet in the house, it would never have been an issue.
You realize that the idea of “indoor cat” is only a century or so old at best? Most cats who ever lived were outside. When you see the joy a cat gets from the outdoors it’s hard to justify keeping them inside if it’s an option. My middle aged lazy cat who’s not much of a hunter will just sit in the garden, in bliss, and doesn’t leave the yard.
I have 3 cats. One you can barely keep in the house although we try. He has no teeth, just another reason to keep him inside. Another is content inside but occasionally does try to get and succeeds. The third never tries We put her outside once to see what would happen and she was so terrified I felt bad for seeing what she would do.
It seems pretty incredibly hypocritical for a human being to criticise a cat for damaging the environment or wildlife - or for creating noise, disease and stink. We’re the ones wrecking the place. We’re the bad roommates. By many, many orders of magnitude.
I have some feline friends that prefer to live outdoors; I respect their decision and their autonomy. Animals don’t exist for humans to rule over them; that old testament dominionism stuff that’s so deeply embedded in western culture is just supremacist propaganda, intended to justify atrocities.
I’m originally from Texas, another state often targeted for ridicule. I meant no offense, but you have to admit some crazy stuff goes on there, and alcohol isn’t always involved.
“Solving problems with force is satisfying because one gets feedback right away.” - Rejinaldo Leonardo Pedro Bolivar de Alencar-Araripe, Principles of Modern War
(Flavor text for the “Nanothermite” wonder in Beyond Earth)
Their truly impressive impact on the local wildlife can also be a concern. Dogs are more of a risk to humans thanks to their size; but cats don’t seem to have lost as much zest for slaughter during domestication.
You also realize they aren’t native to north america right, and are actually a hazard to our environment here? Hence, house pets.
ETA: I guess letting them run is basically humans running amok even more than we already do? That’s pretty much my point here. It’s irresponsible pet ownership. As i stated earlier, if you wanted your cat to be able to go outside it should be on a tether and supervised.
Indeed. I am a dyed in the wool cat lover – have been all my life, but they are definitely vicious little murder machines. They are one of the few animals that will kill both out of necessity as well as for sport.
Just playing with our kittens and watching how they hunt and and utterly destroy their toys is both entertaining and sobering.
I would say it’s not actually, considering humans are the only reason cats are in North America at all. Therefore this is more human bullshit, introducing species where they don’t belong. So cats are here by our choice, we should be controlling them. Your argument is akin to suggesting just letting the rabbits run EVERYWHERE was a good idea in Australia after they were introduced because they were “happier in the wild”. The cat problem may not be as bad, but arguing that it’s hypocritical to say they should be controlled when they are a problem that was introduced by humans seems to be missing the point.
Most municipalities will classify anything that emits a projectile as a “firearm”, so BB guns, paintball guns and even Airsoft can find themselves afoul of the law.
A classic Red Rider-style BB gun is not very likely (not impossible, just not likely) able to do the sort of damage mentioned here. Those have trouble killing anything with feathers tougher than a sparrow (they’ll simply bounce of a pigeon). He most likely was using an air rifle, which most people still call a BB gun just because it shoots BBs. An air rifle can easily be powerful enough to kill a cat at 50 yards.
Hence, house pets.
